The old Stillwater Lift Bridge closed last August, and the new St. Croix River Crossing is getting a lot of credit for a boom in downtown Stillwater business development.

Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski said the city is excited by the growth on Main Street, which will soon be home to two new hotels with more than 100 rooms between them, five new restaurants and a distillery. Further. the old Zephyr train depot could become a new live theater.

"We are anxious to see these projects up and running this year," Kozlowski said. "The new bridge has reduced traffic congestion considerably, and that is why the developers are now willing to pump more money into new projects."

Kozlowski said the total value of all the downtown projects is well over $30 million.

Brad Nordeen, owner or LoLo Amerian Grill, is one of the investors in a new downtown distillery. He said the downtown economy is growing even better than most had hoped after the new bridge opened.

"We were up 5 percent in the first two weeks after the bridge opened, and the idea of doing another restaurant and starting a separate distillery are definitely connected to the new bridge," Nordeen said. "People love Stillwater, but they dreaded the traffic problems, and now they do not have to worry about that and so we thought the time was right to invest in more ventures."